Answers
Mar 02, 2016 - 03:22 PM
sondern means but rather, but instead. It separates two alternatives in a sentence. Ich trinke keinen Saft, sondern "but rather" Tee.
Mar 21, 2016 - 07:53 AM
Thanks for the comment (sorry to be so slow...I'd asked this so long ago I'd not bothered to look anymore!). I understand the "but rather" aspect of "sondern", which is why I asked the question. "But rather" also works in the English rendering: "I have no sister but rather two brothers" is perfectly fine, although perhaps it does sound a bit "elevated". In your example, you're speaking of possibilities for types of beverages, and the example sentence given by Fluenz is speaking of possibilities for types of siblings. Maybe the way to consider "sondern" is using it **only** to link mutually-exclusive events, and using "aber" in all other cases? So, either the example as given using "aber" or "Ich habe keine Schwester, sondern habe einmal eine gehabt."